TEL AVIV — New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivered an emotional and often fiery speech Sunday evening at a private reception in Tel Aviv, where roughly 150 invited guests gathered at Sarona Market to celebrate what organizers called his “steadfast commitment to protecting Jewish communities and his unwavering support for the people and state of Israel.” Outside the event, protesters held signs reading “NYC Jews Aren’t Safe. Shame on Eric Adams” and “Mayor Adams Failed NYC Jews.”

The reception, closed to the public, made Adams available to only a handful of press — including this reporter. Inside, Adams spoke at length about leadership, antisemitism, political fallout in New York City, and his personal struggles. He also launched sharp criticism at his political rivals, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the rise of anti-Israel sentiment on U.S. college campuses.

Throughout his remarks, Adams framed his recent political challenges — including calls for his resignation — as part of a broader ideological battle fueled by misinformation, social-media activism, and what he described as a global wave of antisemitism. The event’s tone oscillated between deeply personal storytelling and sweeping geopolitical warnings.

The crowd, largely composed of American-Israeli community members and local supporters, frequently cheered Adams on. The reception had a warm, intimate tone, despite the tensions just outside the venue.

Below is the full, cleaned, and formatted transcript of Adams’ remarks.

Full Transcript

“It was the most painful moment of my entire life. I saw my name destroyed. My reputation destroyed. After so many years of protecting the family name, it was hard. There were days I did not want to get out of bed. But I heard my mother’s voice saying, ‘Baby, get up. You got this.’ And I got up — and because I got up, I was placing myself in the right places at the right time to do what’s right for the City of New York.”

“Anyone can sit on the bleachers and tell you how to move the ball down the field. But it’s another thing to be on the field and see how challenging it is.

“My mother had three jobs. We were on the verge of homelessness. She had a challenging life. She had her heart broken many times.

“Mommy raised a mayor. And she could only take people so far — she could only take me so far. There had to be a point where I asked myself if I was the man I thought I was.

“There were many people coming at me, telling me to step down, resign, leave — and I stood up in the spirit of my mother standing up.

“She was a very attractive woman. She could have left her six children and said, ‘Why am I putting up with this life with six children?’ But she stayed, and she never gave up on me — and I never gave up on the city. So I am the boy she wanted me to be.”

“Being mayor is both substantive and symbolic — the two go hand in hand, and they’re equally important. It’s about bringing down crime, educating children, creating jobs, and making sure families have the necessities they deserve. But there’s also symbolism: the things we do that signal people are welcome. And he has failed to do that.”

“You can’t give the finger to the Christopher Columbus statue — that means something to the Italian community. You cannot be slow to state clearly that you do not embrace ‘globalize the intifada.’ The symbolism of being a leader is just as important as the substance.

“I believe he must stand up and show he can lead a city as diverse as this one. Even if you agree or disagree on the issues, you must be a leader for everyone, because your words can translate into the actions of others. You may think you’re just saying something, but in an era where verbal violence turns into political violence, you can set the table for some sick mind out there who thinks it’s okay to harm a particular group.

“He must have the political maturity to understand that governing is not protesting — he has to move away from that. And those around him, like the Democratic Socialists of America, need to understand that he is now the mayor. He is no longer a protester in the City of New York. He must protect the City of New York, and that requires a different mindset.”

“When it comes down to the energy that is brewing, there’s a level of concern that I know I have. People want to sugarcoat the moment — we have to be clear.

“The Free Palestine movement was never about land. It was about the destruction and eradication of Jewish people. We have to be honest about that. It didn’t start with Gaza. It didn’t start on October 7th, when thousands of people came in and did the level of devastation of innocent people of horrific nature.

“So you hear people say, ‘We just want to destroy Israel.’ Who lives in Israel? Jews. Duh.”

“‘Destroy Israel from the river to the sea.’ For that child to have bought into that philosophy basically from social media — where they can’t point out Israel on the map — yet in spite of everything they’re going through in life, they have been indoctrinated to hate a particular group.

“Then we are raising a generation of those who are hated because of false information. We have to turn that around, because when we don’t, it becomes cool and hip to be antisemitic.

“You go on a college campus, and a young man wants to date a young girl, and she says, ‘You weren’t at a rally.’ The next day, he is going to adjust his behavior. You have a social event and everyone in the room is talking about what they did over the weekend to fight against Israel — that’s a problem.

“When you have neighboring countries talking about doing an embargo on Israel and not allowing Israeli goods to be sold — and the only way to do it is in a bypass way — you’re seeing the globe close around the country, and we have to meet that challenge head-on. And you can’t meet it head-on by playing with the conversation.

“I think if this were happening to an African American community, you would see our African American folks going to our Jewish brothers and sisters saying, ‘Why are you silent? Where are you?’ That’s the question you should be asking.

“All of your African American, Hispanic, German, Italian — you should be asking all of them: where are you? So why are they silent now?”

“I want to enjoy the globe as much as I want to and love to do. I want to start speaking to the real estate agents here so I can find my place in Israel.

“This is — I think this is a test case for all of us to look at. What happened?

“Many people saw the buildup about a year ago, when I spoke to my team and stated that Zohran was going to win the Democratic primary. I wanted to face him in the general election one-on-one because I knew we could beat him. But a host of people jumped in.

“I always felt Curtis Sliwa was placed by Zohran’s team.”

“One issue: the Free Palestine issue. Then we were dealing with a real affordability issue. So he knew that he could just promise everything, regardless of whether he could deliver it or not.

“People were hurting. And regardless that we put $30 million back in the pockets of working-class people, people were seeing that their college tuition debt is high, rent is high. Mayors don’t control that — but if you go around and give false promises, now you have another group of people from his base.

“He had a substantial number of people knocking on doors, giving them the conversation, and they rallied around it.”

“He’s a social media influencer. The credibility of messages on social media — it’s amazing. People live on their devices. They get their news from devices. They started hearing narratives and stories from their devices. They bought into it.

“I think the biggest mistake Israel made after October 7th — out of their lack of desire not to exploit the situation — is that the story was never really told. People just heard that something happened on October 7th; they don’t really know what happened.

“So the Zohrans of the world showed everyone every baby ever killed in Gaza. Israel never did that. You heard about it, but you never knew what happened on October 7th. To me, that was a big mistake. Because then the narrative was taken away, and it made it seem like Israel was being brutal.

“So it was a combination. He became the symbol of everything that people were angry about.”

“‘Everything’s going to be fine.’ That is not true. We have to be smart. We have to have situational awareness as we move through the streets.

“We should have those in our synagogues and schools have proper training, proper protection. Right here in this city you have locations to go if a bomb is going off — you’re prepared. And I think in New York, the community must prepare themselves. They must be prepared.

“They must be taught: if someone displays hate — if they see something, say something. Do something.

“I think this is a period where They need to be very conscious that there is a layer of global hostility toward the Jewish community. And if you walk around saying everything is fine, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Everything is not fine.”

“People are looking at Zohran. But look at what is happening globally — the level of comfort with being antisemitic. And anti-Christian! In Nigeria, 18,000 churches bombed; 8,000 Christians killed. Churches being burned all over.

“There’s this anti-faith wave. Islamic extremism is real. And you’re not ‘Islamophobic’ for pointing out the reality. This is not anti-Muslim — people should have a right to their faith, and there are many Muslims who are concerned about Islamic extremism.

“So what you saw — a successful campaign — phishing through. Normal became normal and abnormal became normal.”

“Denounce ‘globalize the intifada.’ What should have happened is that everyone should have known clearly what it means. Sometimes we use these in-house terminology that we understand and speak to each other on a higher level. But the average mother who is trying to figure out how she is going to feed her three children and still be in her home — she doesn’t have time to pick up Wikipedia and figure out what ‘globalize the intifada’ is.”

“That was abnormal in New York. You would not even think about running for office and being antisemitic. It’s one thing if you have a hidden antisemitic or racist agenda. But if you can comfortably run on a platform that is about hate toward a group — we have to beat that head-on.”

“I am happy to be here in Israel. When I ran for State Senate, the Jewish community was here for me. When I ran for Borough President to become the first African American to fill that position, the community was here. When I ran for mayor — to become the second African American — the community was here.

“This has been my ascension and my ability to do things good for the city. This community has contributed so much to New York, America, and humankind. I acknowledge that and I recognize that.

“From the days of Martin and Dr. King opening schools of color, we have always had that relationship, so I don’t want anyone to consider me to just be the mayor.

“I am your brother.”

Despite the tense scene outside, the reception inside Sarona was warm, personal, and unusually candid for a sitting mayor abroad. With roughly 150 guests and minimal media presence, Adams treated the evening as both a political defense and an intimate reflection on leadership, identity, and the volatile moment facing Jewish communities worldwide.